Pleasantly Surprised

Crap! The photo was cropped weird when I posted. I'll work on it.

This past Sunday Craig and I went up to Fremont, CA, for another IVF Doc appt. We had to be there early Monday Morning so we decided to drive up Sunday evening and stay the night. Since we had one appt in Fremont at 8am and another in Santa Clara (20 min away) at 11:30 I wanted to book the hotel closer to the 8 AM appt, in Fremont. I pride myself in finding the best all-around-deals with regards to price, value, location...etc. It usually takes a lot of time searching on various internet sites, but its always worth the extra effort. I would NEVER pay more unless it was absolutely worth it- and, yes, sometimes it is. If any of you either travels a lot, or is simply interested to hear about a great value, especially in today's crappy economy, listen here! After searching on google maps'- "nearby hotels" and not being too overly impressed by anything that I found, I found a link to a site called "California Hotels." The site introduced me to "Hyatt Place," of which I will now forever be a devoted fan. The building was new, probably in the last 5 years, and looked impressive as we drove up. Craig even said "Wow, we're staying in a Hyatt?" His comment meant that he assumed I was being a hotel snob, and booked the nicest place I could find. "On the contrary," I said, "this was the cheapest non-sketchy place around- cheaper than Holiday Inn Express, Best Western, Fairfield, La Quinta, etc- and cheaper by 30 bucks and more. I had to point out that it was a Hyatt "Place" not "Regency." Like Marriott's Courtyard to its..., well, Marriot. -Only this was way nicer than any Courtyard I've ever stayed in, and about 50 bucks cheaper. They even had self check-in machines- like at the airport. They print out your room keys and everything. We didn't like the assigned room (Im not a fan of 1st floor rooms) so the girl working there chgd or room to top floor in about 2 minutes.
The guestrooms are all suite-style, with an area with a large COMFORTABLE couch and over sized ottoman(*see above photo). They even had a large throw for cozy movie-watching. One of the most impressive features was the huge 42" flat screen* with HD- Ive never had HD in a hotel. And the free wi-fi connects directly to the screen if you want.
To make this already too long of a story short, we were seriously delighted by our Hyatt Place experience. They even have a 24 hour food service, not room service, although they can bring it to your room. Its not a restaurant either. You use a touch screen in their downstairs cafe area (where the cont breakf is served) to order from a menu of apps, salads, sammies, and desserts, and they prepare it for you. Reasonably priced, too:) The only thing I can really do is provide a link and you can check it out. Our total bill, INCLUDING the room price, taxes and fees, our $11.99 purchase of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, 2 bottled drinks, and a big cinnamon roll, was $107. Again, I've paid much more and received much less, so this made me very happy. I will be a supporter whenever and wherever possible. Happy Hotel-ing!

http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/place/about/

And the winner is...

Dr. Malan: Tvs in the ceiling?! say no more. (...And maybe because he was the only one suggested that was in our network.) But seriously- my last dentist had the ceiling tvs. They could have given me a full set of dentures and I wouldn't have noticed. For the record, April, I tried Dr. Sweet first. I didn't want to feel like I was being a party to any snooty, exclusively mormon- dental group or anything. Plus, Sweet had the cave room! But oh well. Mormon guy it is! Wish us luck, its been....well, a while, and I'm kinda scared.

That's a picture of George Washington's teeth- not bad considering the time period. I thought it was pretty cool. Hopefully not too relavant to this blog...

Who likes their Dentist?

Hello Everyone in Clovis! I need a reference for a good dentist in the area. Craig and I haven't been to one since we moved here and I think we're both bout due. Everyone who likes who they see please let me know!

Tore up (see previous post)

Seeee- this is what happens when Craig doesn't wear chaps. The scars are 4 years old. His legs basically look like they are covered in hieroglyphics. Gunnar of course, had to jump in just as I was snapping the pic.

Craig's new toy

Just like his brother, Kent, Craig loves his power tools. I gave him a table saw for Christmas and he reacted like a kid getting the 5000+ piece Millennium Falcon Lego set. (which, by the way has been on his Christmas list since Dec of 07) Recently he and Steve went out and got a chain saw so Craig could trim our trees before the neighborhood pick-up day. Again he was like a kid in a candy store with that thing so, naturally, I had to document for the blog.
Oh- and notice his snazzy new blaze-orange chaps. Last time he "played" with a chainsaw he nearly cut his leg off, so this time- he got the chaps. Enjoy.







This awesome shot was recently set as the screen saver on our computer at home. And not by me:)

A San Francisco Treat:

Craig and I had an opportunity to visit San Francisco a few weeks ago, because our IVF doc is near the bay area in Santa Clara. (more IVF info to come) I had never been to San Francisco and I loved the area! As my friends and family will tell you, I am very much a city girl, and SF was no disappointment. We stayed in a cute little boutique hotel right in Union Square and it was a nice little 20-25 minute walk to the Fisherman's wharf, where, by the way I had THEE BEST lunch I have ever had to date. I even took a picture.
I had the jumbo shrimp cocktail and the cup of clam chowder. I'll admit I whined when they brought me the $15 dollar shrimp and there were FOUR of them, but after I was getting full after 2 I realized that 4 was a heafty amount- they were huge. For anyone who loves shrimp cocktail (I am a purist when it comes to shrimp) these were so tasty and so fresh, I swear they were still crawling around in the ocean as we were being sat at our table. And notice the freshly grated horsradish on the plate by the lemon- AWESOME. And the chowder! I like chowder ok, but this?! Mmmmm, it redefined chowder for me. And yes, Craig said his fish and chips were really good too, but that's as much detail as he would ever give so it must have been an award winning dish as well.
Besides the food- the city looked just like it did in Full House. I was hoping to get a great shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, but by the time we found it (in short- dont expect the golden gate bridge state park to lead you to it) it was too dark and too foggy. There are a ton of cool hotels, shops, and restaurants- my fav! And we did take a street car- since it was way cheaper and warmer than taking the cable car- but otherwise not much different. I look forward to returning and checking out more of the city and all its charm. I call it California's New York- the people seem much more impatient and antsy than most Californians I've met. And they honk A LOT!
This is a shot at fisherman's wharf- just downstairs from my amazing and unforgettable lunch experience.